1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to computer graphics display, and more specifically to a graphics display tool for controlling data visualization.
2. Related Art
Computer graphics display systems have long been used to visualize data. Depending upon the type of data involved, a data visualization is displayed to identify data content, characteristics, properties, relationships, trends, and any other aspect of the data. For example, business and scientific data is often visualized through charts, graphs, histograms, and figures. Virtual reality (VR) data visualizations represent data using display models, such as, information landscapes, hierarchies, cones, walls, and trees.
A data visualization, however, represents a snapshot of data that is fixed with respect to external dimension(s) not represented in the data visualization itself. For example, consider a company's annual sales data reported in a simple bar chart. A bar can be provided for each retail store in the company. The heights of the bars represent the annual sales for the respective retail stores. In this case, time is one external dimension. The bar chart represents annual sales only for a particular year. Sales data over other time intervals, such as, sales in prior years or monthly sales data, are not visible in the single bar chart display.
A “slider” is used to vary the display of data in an external dimension. A slider is often a button or dial which a user moves along a scale to set the data visualization to a different value or range of values in the external dimension. For the annual sales bar chart discussed above, a slider can be used to extend the bar chart to cover sales made in a preceding year. Such sliders, however, are ineffective navigation instruments. Using sliders alone leaves the user blind to any variations in the data over the external dimensions. A user only receives notice of the change in data over the external dimension after a slider has been set. In addition, a slider can control only one external dimension at a time. Even if two sliders are provided, a user can only move one slider at a time, thereby, precluding independent simultaneous navigation in more than one external dimension.
A graphics display tool for controlling or varying data visualization in at least one external dimension is needed, which allows better querying and navigation of data in external dimension space. Summary information about how data for a data visualization varies across external dimension space is needed to guide data queries and navigation. An ability to query and navigate a data visualization across one, two, or more external dimensions in a simultaneous and independent manner is needed.